Method and means for hot-air radiant heating



Feb. 24, A. A. LAHTI I METHOD AND MEANS FOR HOT-AIR RADIANT HEATING Filed Aug. 18, 1950 2 SHEETSSHEET l ANARD A. LAl-ITI ZSnnentor attorney Feb. 24, 1953 A. A. LAHTl METHOD AND MEANS FOR HOT-AIR RADIANT HEATING 2 SHEETSSHEET 2 Filed Aug. 18,

ANARD A. 'LAHTI lnventor Gttor..e139

Patented Feb. 24, 1953 METHOD AND MEANS FOR HOT-AIR RADIANT HEATING Anard A. Lahti, Auburn, Wash., assignor of fifty per cent to Forest Glen Ayers, Dash Point,

Wash.

Application August 18, 1950, Serial No. 180,197

In my invention, I provide a concrete floor slab having a plurality of hot air ducts running horizontally therethrough for heating the floor slab. A plurality of hot air registers are positioned adjacent the floor slab, each having a square air scoop housing depending therefrom and communicating with one of said hot air ducts intermediate its ends. An air scoop is pivotally secured to the bottom of each air scoop housing and means is provided in the register for pivoting the air scoop from a position above said duct to a position blocking the same thereby directing air from said duct through the register. In this way I provide a method of heating which combines the advantages of the radiant floor slab type of heating and the quick heating quality of the usual hot air system. Means are also provided to adjust the amount of hot air exhausted into the room afiording the user the choice of primarily floor slab heating, or a combination of floor slab heating and hot air heating. The air scoop may be pivoted at any side of the air scoop housing which means that the same register may be used no matter in which way the air duct runs or in which way it is desired to face the register.

Radiant heating, one of the older known means used in heating buildings, has in recent years had a most surprising general adoption. The large number of current installations of radiant heating systems is no doubt the result of several factors, the principal probably being the general desirability of the one-story house and the possibility of having a vermin, and termite-proof floor by forming the floor as a concrete slab. In these various installations, as observed, the heating means for the slab have normally been hot water or steam conducted through a grid of tubing which is imbedded in the concrete slab. In such localities where electric current is available at a low rate, many successful electrically heated slabs have been provided. This form of heating is inspired no doubt by the ease with which hot water can be passed through the grid or the ease of installation of the electrical system. Both of these plans have departed from the original scheme for heating radiant slabs by hot air or by the product of combustion as was practiced as far back as the early B. C. centuries, as has been proved by excavations, particularly in Italy. I am well aware that a number of inventors have approached the problem of using warm air or hot air to provide the heating means for a radiant slab. However, none of the various hot air radiant plans that have been inspected fully meet the requirements of present pr are inherent in the device.

2 Claims. (Cl. 98-106) day heating. A radiant slab is at best a very inflexible heating means, requiring a long warming-up time, and unless adequate control devices are provided so that quick heating can be achieved radiant heating will never fully satisfy the American public.

As observed, the conventional radiant slab panel heating in the past has failed to provide an air circulatory system which is quite essential if the air in the house is to be kept clean and at the proper degree of humidity. It therefore follows that a workable system should provide for the circulation of air through suitable filters and possibly electronic precipitating devices so that rooms can be freed of objectionable odors, tobacco smoke, dust, pollens and the like so that the scents of stale air can be entirely eliminated. It is recognized that others prior to my efforts have attempted to provide a means for achieving this purpose but those again that have been observed are still lacking the flexibility of control that is deemed so essential in modern ar rangements of heating.

The principal object of my present invention is, therefore, to provide a method and suitable means to achieve the method whereby a combination of radiant heating and circulated warm air can be practically achieved.

A further object of my invention is to provide means whereby the resident can control the heating plant in his home so as to take fullest advantage of the principal virtues of the radiant panel and the air circulatory system of heating.

A further object of my invention is to provide adjustable air scoop means which will make it possible to selectively extract the desired quantity of heated air from the duct system and discharge it into a room for circulatory heating and purification purposes.

A further object of this invention is to provide a method and means whereby heat is quickly available in a home and then as the plant continues in operation so that the radiant slab becomes a heat transfer means, that a balance can be achieved between the air circulatory system and the radiant system so that the users of the system can have sufiicient heat at all times for comfort and by having a convenient means for regulating the hot air flow, the transition from one system to the other or a combination of the two can be most practically achieved.

Further objects, advantages and capabilities will be apparent from the description and disclosure in the drawings, or may be comprehended In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view in plan showing in full lines a hot air grid system with the air circulatory means and showing the outline of a house in dashed lines;

Figure. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view, in plan showing one corner of the plan of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a perspective view showing my air scoop and hot air register device, in elevation, with certain parts broken away to more fully illustrate the structure;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary view similar to Figure 3 showing the ease with which my air scoop may be changed for different installations;

Figure 5 is a typical cross-sectional View through my combined hot air register and air scoop showing the concrete floor slab and a transverse view of the hot air ducts associated therewith;

Figure '6 is a longitudinal sectional view through the air duct of Figure 5 showing the air scoop closing the air passage.

Referring more particularly tothe disclosure in the drawings, the numeral l6 designates a typical circulating hot air heating plant which may be of any conventional type. Duct I2 is the hot air supply through whichthe heated air from furnace I0 is forced under pressure of the circulating fan of thefurnace. The cold air supply duct M is again of conventional style and is normally .under negative pressure from the action of thecirculating fan. 7

The hot air passing'out from duct i2 is discharged into a header 16 which serves as distribution means, supplying substantially equal amounts of .air to the various hot air ducts it which arein turn formed as part of the floor slab of thehouse which may be made of concrete or other materials. 7

Cold air return duct it branches to provide the two cold air return ducts 2i! and 22 disposed on opposite sides of the house. These terminate in headers as 24 and 25 which join the endsof the hot air ducts i8. The air flow produced by the suction on return pipes 29 and 22 is controllable by damper means 28, as illustrated in greater detail in Figure 2. Any desired number of these dampers may be employed although for the general plan as illustrated in Figure 1 two such, as indicated, normally are sufficient. A plurality of cold air registers 36 is provided so that when thesystem is'used as an air circulatory plan these registers may be opened to provide a return of the cold air from the rooms. On the other hand when the system is operating as a straight radiant slab these cold air returns normally should be closed;

At diiferent points throughout the extent or the hot air ducts i8 and in accordance with the room arrangement of the house in which they,

are used, hot air registers, each provided with an ,air scoop, should be used. These are indicated in Figure 1 by the reference character .Referring to Figures No. 3 through 6, I have illustrated a form of hot air register and air scoop that has been fo und to be very useful in making available to the homeowner the privilege of selecting which form of heat is desired for the region used. or to effect a combination of the two plans, as is normally found practical when the plant has'been operating for sufiicient length of time to build up suitable temperature within the floor slab. The register proper consists of an .upper housing having the-top 49, two side walls 42 '44, and the ba'ck wall 45 and preferably a sloping fron wall 68. This--front-wall is cut a ter face.

4 out so that in efiect it merely is a frame adapted to receive any convenient form of louvered regis- Many different forms of these facings are available, and, as they do not form a part of this present invention, they have not been illustrated.

Depending from the bottom Eilof the register is a scoop housing 52. This is provided as a square housing having a depending depth equal to the thickness of the floor with which it is to be used. Pivotally secured to the lower part of housing 52 is the air scoop 54. This member is pivoted to housing 152 asby the through pin or bolt 56. This pivot pin may be secured in any of the group of holes 58 illustrated, the purpose of this arrangement being to permit a standard register assembly to be manufactured and then to permit .the installation of the scoop 54 in such a manner that it will always be possible to face it in the most advantageous manner. It naturally follows in order to scoop air out of a moving columnof air passing through ducts lBthat it must be inclined with the outer edge 60 toward the direction from which the air is being driven and in this manner direct the air upwardly through housing 52 and out through the register face opening. To facilitate this it has beenfound desirable to form the outer portion or" scoop 54 by bending it slightly as along the line ,62. Control means are provided to permit the accurate positioning of scoop 5a and to in turn determine the amount of air deflected. A convenient means for this is to have a pivoted connecting rod '64 secured to a crank member 66, the crank being disposed so that one end of the same can pass through face 48 and be available for the attachment of a locking handle as 63. This handle should be provided with some form or preferably friction or Idetent latch such as are very common in theheating field for the control of flow-directing dampers. r

Method of use home are returning and the furnacehas been shut down for a period, their need of course is for immediate heat and, under such conditions, the cold air registers 30 are open and the air" scoop 54 of the hot air register 32in the rooms that are to be immediately occupied are adjusted to provide the maximum flow of heated air into these rooms.

During the time the residents are enjoying the warm circulating air, the air is also heating the floor slab causing a gradual rise in temperature due to the fact that the hot air being used in theroomsmustoi necessity be passing through the conduit system. The heating of a concrete iloor slab by the forced hot air method is a very effective one for getting comparatively quick rises in temperature. This is due to the fact that the air ducts must be ofnecessity haveconsiderablearea .so that a large amount of wiping contact is provided. Then too it is almost ax iomatic that the floor surfacetemperature should slabitransfersits .-heatv .onithe basis .of .-;approximately 55% by radiant transfer and 45% by convection transfer. Consequently even in an allradiant system, there is considerable movement of the air within the room and it therefore follows that a control of this movement is highly desirable. With my present system the air movement control is provided by the adjustment of the air scoops 55 which insure a definite amount of air being taken out of the heating ducts I6 and passed into the rooms. This tends to build up a positive pressure in the room and it is then necessary that the cold air register 39 be opened so as to provide normally only a slight positive pressure within the room. This balancing or" the air flow can further be effected by suitable adjustment as dampers 28 which are shown in Figure 1 as positioned between the terminal ends of the hot air ducts l8 and the cold air return ducts 29 and 22.

Detailed description of the flexibility of this arrangement is offered merely for explanatory purposes as such balancing is well-known among men in the heating field, but it does illustrate the degree of sensitivity obtainable with my present method of heating. Further the employ- 4 ment of this present system makes it possible to take fullest advantages of those desirable characteristics of a forced air circulatory system and of a radiant slab system whether it is in the floor, walls or ceiling of a home.

It is believed that it Will be clearly apparent from the above description and the disclosure in the drawings that the invention comprehends a novel construction of a method and means for hot air radiant heating.

Having thus disclosed the invention, I claim:

1. A hot air register providing means for exhausting air from an air duct, comprising: an upper housing having a top wall, two side walls,

a back wall and a front wall sloping in a direction toward said back wall as it extends upward, said front Wall having an opening for exhausting air rrom said register; a scoop housing depending from said upper housing and having an open bottom, said scoop housing being square in horizontal cross-section; a horizontal air duct disposed below said open bottom and in communication therewith; a square air scoop having a through pin running along one edge of the same; said scoop housing having eight openings in its sides positioned a short distance above said open bottom of said scoop housing, said openings beingdisposed in pairs, on opposite side walls of said scoop housing near a side Wall joining said opposite walls, said air scoop having the ends of said through pin positioned in one of said pairs of openings providing means for pivotally connecting said scoop to said scoop housing selectively to swing from any side of said scoop housing; a crank member positioned in said upper housing and having an operating handle for manual operation of said crank member; and a connecting rod between said crank member and said scoop, whereby said scoop may be pivoted from a position above said horizontal duct to a position blocking said duct thereby directing air from said. duct through said register.

2. A hot air register providing means for exhausting air from an air duct, comprising: an upper housing having a top wall, two side walls, a back wall and a front wall having an opening for exhausting air from said register; a scoop housing depending from said upper housing and having an open bottom, said scoop housing being square in horizontal cross-section; a horizontal air duct disposed below said open bottom and in communication therewith; a square air scoop having bolt means running along one edge of the same; said scoop housing having eight openings in its sides positioned a short distance above said open bottom of said scoop housing, said openings being disposed in pairs on opposite side walls of said scoop housing near a side Wall joining said opposite walls, said air scoop having the ends of said bolt means positioned in one of said pairs of openings providing means for pivotally connecting said scoop to said scoop housing selectively to swing from any side of said scoop housing; a crank member positioned in said upper housing and having an operating handle for manual operation of said crank member; and a connecting member between said crank member and said scoop, whereby said scoop may be pivoted from a position above said horizontal duct to a position blocking said duct thereby directing air from said duct through said register.

ANARD A. LAHTI.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 509,332 Smith Nov. 21, 1893 1,811,231 Gehri June 23, 1931 1,961,948 Symonds June 5, 1934 2,192,007 Durst Feb. 27, 1940 2,192,567 Waugh Mar. 5, 1940 2,195,691 Burt Apr. 2, 1940 2,203,120 Young June 4, 1940 2,364,265 Brickham Dec. 5, 1944 2,422,685 Keck June 24, 1947 2,465,184 Alderman Mar. 22, 1949 2,555,978 Kooiker June 5, 1951 

